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The braveheart s of Wuhan Air India's heroic rescue mission
The braveheart s of Wuhan The Government of India honoured the team of fearless Air Indians who flew to Wuhan in China to bring back 647 nationals
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1. Members of the team in- volved in the Wuhan evacua- tion with Union Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri (in blue turban) and other Air India officials
2. The captains who flew the aircraft to Wuhan
3. A woman with her child being screened
4. Capt Amitabh Singh, Direc- tor, Operations, Air India, briefing the cabin crew
Be it rescuing civilians stranded in floodhit Jammu and Kashmir or evacuating Indians and other nationals from conflictstricken Yemen or airlifting citizens from earthquake-ravaged Gujarat – Air India has always been standing by the nation in its hour of need. And, with its recent feat of bringing home 647 Indians along with seven Maldivians from corona virus-infected Wuhan in China, the national carrier has scripted one of the most selfless and daring rescue acts in the annals of Indian civil aviation. A total of 68 bravehearts of Air India went beyond their call of duty to fly back the stranded in two daring Boeing 747 jumbo sorties inspired by the belief: “If we don’t do it, then who will?” The nation honoured their determination and courage at a recent ceremony where Union Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, conferred upon every member involved in the mission, letters of appreciation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “We are proud of the commitment shown by the Air India team to bring home their countrymen in spite of trying conditions in the epidemic-hit Wuhan. I feel proud to confer the appreciation of our Prime Minister expressed through personal letters to all those who had been part of this historic mission,” Puri said at the felicitation event.
“Air India has always been standing by the nation during any natural calamity or
Rescue
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During the evacuation, all precautionary steps were taken to minimise the risk of infection. Protective suits, shoes, gloves, masks, glasses and caps were procured for the team members. The first rescue flight took off on January 31 to fly back 324 passengers, and the second flew on February 1 to return with 323 passengers and seven Maldivian nationals. One B747 Jumbo aircraft was used in the evacuation.
The B747 aircraft that was used in the rescue mission
Captain
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Capt Amitabh Singh speaks about his experience of the evacuation: Air India has, in the past, been involved in several evacuations, be it from war-torn areas or places struck by natural disaster. But this was the first time that we were going to the epicentre of an epidemic. It was quite worrisome and our orders were to fly in, evacuate and fly out, keeping everyone safe. We had Air India doctors and an expert medical team, and received a lot of support from the Government of India, especially the Ministry of Health.
On landing in Wuhan: When you are landing in any airport, there is a lot of telephonic chatter, lots of aircraft and you are normally stacked up in a landing sequence, which was not the case in Wuhan. The airport was shrouded in a deathly quiet. When we were descending, we noticed that there were no vehicular or pedestrian movement. After landing, there was no aircraft movement and ours was the only aircraft there. The rest were sealed off.
The challenges: One of the biggest hurdles we faced was acquiring the visas for the team flying to Wuhan, as we were given just a day’s notice. To get the visas for so many people was a major task. We overcame medical challenges too. We had to ensure that the pilots and the crew did not get infected.
On the evacuees: They were quite scared, worried and tired when they got on board but there was a sense of relief when they finally settled down. It was not an Air India aircraft for them but India that they had entered. When we took off, there was a lot of cheering and applause for the government. As far as the Maldivians are concerned, they are fellow human beings, so there was no difference.
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1. Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri (third from left) along with (from left) Ashwani Lohani, former Air India CMD; Rajiv Bansal, Air India CMD, and Pradeep Singh Kharola, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation
2. Capt Amitabh Singh (ninth from left) with members of the cockpit and cabin crew of the Wuhan rescue flight
Led by Capt Amitabh Singh, Director, Operations, Air India, two teams took off from New Delhi to Wuhan on January 31 and February 1, 2020, to fly back the stranded
strife and rising above commercial interests to come to the rescue of the stranded where no one dares to tread. And, this urge to rescue comes spontaneously,” said Air India’s Chairman and Managing Director, Rajiv Bansal at the occasion.
Led by Capt Amitabh Singh, Director, Operations, Air India, two teams comprising cockpit and cabin crew, engineers, groundsmen, doctors, security personnel and commercial employees took off from New Delhi on January 31 and February 1, 2020, along with doctors from Ram Manohar Lohia and Safdarjung hospitals to fly back the stranded.
A 34-member team from Air India has done a remarkable job of evacuating [over] 600 Indians by two special flights from the Wuhan city of corona virus-infected China. Your determination and devotion is exemplary. It is a matter of special satisfaction that all citizens have been found safe from the corona virus. Vice President of India
More than 600 Indian students and citizens have been evacuated from #Wuhan following the #CoronavirusOutbreak. The #Cabinet appreciates @airindiain and its crew for the fearless service rendered and for putting ‘duty’ before self: Union Minister @PrakashJavdekar Press Information Bureau (PIB)
“Even if you are stuck on Mars, the Indian Embassy will be there to save you”, these were the words of late Sushma Swaraj ji. The airlift of people from Wuhan, China, by Air India is a commendable job and their service to the nation will always be remembered! @airindiain Devang Rao
@airindiain @narendramodi I want to thank Air India for rescuing Indian nationals from Wuhan. You have carried out such rescue missions earlier and now, you have done it again. I am a proud Indian today. Suman Dey
Salute to our bravehearts @airindiain pilots and crew members who risked their own lives to rescue over 600 Indians from Wuhan. The seeds sowed by Sushma Swaraj in MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) is blossoming. Sandesh Mitkari
The fearless people behind the rescue mission
Capt Amitabh Singh Director (Operations) Capt Kamal Mohan Joint General Manager (Operations) Capt Syed Reza Commander Capt Sanjay Achalkar Captain Capt Bhupesh Narain Commander Sanjay Gupta Sr Assistant General Manager, Engg. (CM D office) Kishore Chandorkar Deputy Manager (Commercial) Pradeep Tendulkar Manager (Commercial) Sundarrao Muga Deputy Manager (Commercial) Chandramurli Mahadevan Iyer Officer – Commercial MR Jain Assistant Manager – Commercial Vipul Jitendra Bhavsar Dy Chief Aircraft Engineer Sanjay Hiralal Ahire Sr Supdt. Service Engineer Altaf Abdul Razak Hetavkar Master Service Engineer Nasir Pathan Sr Manager (Flight Despatch) Pillai Devdas Natesan Dy Manager (Security) Pednekar Sudhir Punlik Assistant Manager – Security Solage Makarand Mahadev Manager – Medical Chetan Phansekar Officer (Pharmacy) Mainkar Mahendrakumar Manohar Manager –Ramp Jayesh B Mhatre Manager (IFS) Aruna Jaswant Pahlajani Manager (IFS) Cyrus Rustom Irani Cabin Crew Sheetal Sarvaiya Manager (IFS) Manju Budhram Tanwar Sr Manager (IFS) Anuj Ajmani Dy Chief Cabin Crew Muralidharan Panakal Nanappan Manager (IFS) Navin Dominic Topno Dy Chief Cabin Crew Sonali Suresh Samarth Dy Chief Cabin Crew Divya Vrajlal Ambasana Chief Cabin Crew Sangeeta Mahesh Jiandani Cabin Crew Ganesh Shetty Assistant Manager (IFS) Ashutosh Waman Nagrale Dy Chief Cabin Crew Gavin Ferreira Dy Chief Cabin Crew Arup Chatterjee Manager (IFS) Capt Suman Mazumder Sr Capatin Capt Utsav Mukhopadhyay Commander Capt Sanjoy Bhattacharyya First Officer Capt Chandrakant Jadhav First Officer Pushpinder Bansal Assistant Manager – Commercial Subhash Chander Manager – Commercial Ajay Rajput Assistant Manager – Commercial Manoj Avinashi Assistant Manager – Commercial Sarabjeet Singh Deputy Manager – Commercial Parameswaran Narayanaswamy Sharma Dy Chief Aircraft Engineer Prashant Jayant Kanade Sr Service Engineer Vijay Pandurang Hulenwar Sr Supdt. Service Engineer Khopkar Uday Atmaram Assistant Manager – Security Sardesai Sanjay Assistant Manager (Security) Sridhar Kamble Sr Manager (Flight Despatch) MC Swami Manager - GS Anil M Bhosale Dy Manager – Medical Smruti Phansekar Asstt. Officer (Pharmacy) Srilata Nair Manager – IFS Swenka Kumari Dy Chief Cabin Crew Jitender Verma Chief Cabin Crew Anmol Gulati Chief Cabin Crew Nitin Kumar Bagai Chief Cabin Crew Dorjee Tshering Sherpa Chief Cabin Crew Manmeet Kaur Chief Cabin Crew Prerna Singh Dy Chief Cabin Crew Julius Chief Cabin Crew Sanjeevinder Kaur Sidhu Manager – IFS Gautam Kadan Dy Chief Cabin Crew Yangzi Wangchuk Bhutia Chief Cabin Crew Chandar Parkash Dy Chief Cabin Crew Sushil Badola Chief Cabin Crew Rakhi Chopra Chief Cabin Crew
In light of Air India’s recent selfless and heroic act, we turn the pages of history to look at equally-commendable feats the airline has achieved not just within the country’s borders but beyond
On May 10, 1994, Air India operated special Airbus 310 flight from Mumbai to Sana’a (capital of Yemen) via Muscat to evacuate Indians stranded in strife-torn Yemen
On September 18, 1996, Air India embarked on ‘Operation Amnesty Airlift’ to bring back Indians who did not have valid permits, from the United Arab Emirates
In October 1997, Air India evacuated stranded Indians, who were compelled to leave the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia before the deadline of the amnesty period expired. A total of 8,461 deportees were flown to India by November 7
In February 2001, the erstwhile Indian Airlines came to the aid of earthquake-struck Gujarat with major airlifting of relief supplies and transporting passengers by operating 184 additional flights. As much as 700 tonnes of relief material were sent free of cost
July 2006 saw the evacuation of Indians from Lebanon via Larnaca in Cyprus On May 28, 2010, Air India operated a special relief flight to rush aid to the victims of a rail mishap near Jhargram in West Bengal. On-board were a 43-member team of the National Disaster Management wing and 500 kg of relief material
In March 2011, Air India operated 36 flights to evacuate 11,345 stranded Indians from Cairo, following political turmoil in Egypt
48 I Shubh Yatra I MARCH 2020 In August 2014, Air India operated special relief flight to Djerba in Tunisia to evacuate more than 1,200 stranded Indians from Libya and Malta. The relief flights were operated to meet the requirement of the Government of India to bring home Indian expatriates stranded in Libya
In September 2014, Air India operated 49 extra flights, besides its scheduled ones, to evacuate nearly 7,900 stranded people from flood-affected places like Srinagar, Jammu and Leh, and also carried 44 tonnes of relief material to Srinagar
Air India evacuated Indians and other nationals stranded at Sana’a (Yemen) between April 3 and 9, 2015. The airline operated 19 flights to fly out 3,614 evacuees
In December 2015, Air India once again stood by the nation by pulling out all stops to rush relief and rescue flights to rain-ravaged and flood-hit Chennai and other affected parts of Tamil Nadu. Air India mobilised all resources to operate an Airbus 320 test flight from Hyderabad to Rajali, the naval air station at Arakkonam near Chennai
Dear INDIA
The 2014 flood of Jammu & Kashmir saw us dive into action with food and medicines. Within 4 days we operated close to 50 extra flights besides our scheduled ones, and we managed to transport nearly 8000 passengers from Srinagar, Leh and Jammu.
Most of what you’ve heard may be concerning our aircraft, our people or the way we do business. What you, perhaps, haven’t been told is how much we love you, and how many times we have shown our deepest concern for you. Because, in our heart of hearts, we believe that ‘If we don’t do it, then who will.’
Why is Air India much more than a
mere airline? It gives us the essence of India. A feeling called India.
Let us, Our Country, tell you some real stories of our humanitarian sorties, which we had been trusted with in difficult times. Let us go back in the recent past and see how we have gone beyond our call of duty to stand by the nation.
During the outbreak of Gulf War in September 1990, Air India spread its wings to operate 488 special flights and airlifted over 1 lakh stranded Indian nationals in a tireless rescue mission. Their safe homecoming was reward enough for us.
A little earlier in the August of the same year a relatively smaller operation had gone unnoticed except by the 1000 Indians urgently flown out of Amman on special flights by Air India.
Again a crisis loomed in the Arab world. Air India rushed in to evacuate over 8,500 emigrants from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This happened between 12 th October and 17 th November of 1997.
On March 12, 2011 we pressed into service 36 flights to evacuate more than 11,000 Indians from strife-torn Egypt. Though we didn’t even operate between India and Cairo then.
There were other operations in the years not mentioned, but let’s jump to August 2014. The relief flights were effected for a mass evacuation of around 1200 Indians from Libya and Malta.
We have played a key role in natural disasters closer home. During the tsunami, earthquakes, floods and cyclones we have been ready with From April 13 to 14 in 2015, Air India operated 19 flights between Djibouti and Sana’a to bring out about 3,000 evacuees. More than 50% of the rescue was the effort of our dedicated team.
And because our neighbours are equally important to us, after the earthquake in Nepal, we announced fare reductions, waiver of cancellation and refund charges and flew additional relief sorties to and out of Kathmandu.
We may have had to sacrifice our commercial services, but what is revenue compared to the value of human lives.
647 Indian nationals and 7 people of
neighbouring countries were evacuated by Air India from Wuhan, the epicentre of the Coronavirus outbreak, in China. Our 90 dedicated personnel were involved in the rescue.
In short, our actions reiterate our commitment and love for our country. We promise to carry on the responsibility of being the national carrier whenever and wherever India needs us whatever be the exigency.
This is not an attempt to amplify what we keep doing for the nation nor are we begging for attention, we are merely baring our soul and expressing our true spirit. We hope our name will always be remembered for selflessness and patriotism.
Air INDIA Your Sincerely,
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